Router To Make Rolodex Cards

[alan]

I have pre perforated rolodex card blanks, eight on a page. I want to print on them or just plain card stock, laminate them with a gbc hot gbk laminator but then I need to cut out the rolodex holes.

Any easy ideas. I have a router I never used but I guess it should be able to cut through a few sheets of laminated card stock.

I guess I could get a drill press too. For the money that these cards cost to do and the time you have to wait, I'd rather do it myself so that I have some flexabilty and can easily make changes.

Alan

[Chris Friesen]

How about a hole punch?

Chris

[Alan Calan]

Chris,

I have to do a lot of them, They will be laminated. The small rolodex punch you can buy does one plain business card at a time and I doubt that you can do it through the laminate. I have looked for a powered one but can't find it. I'm sure the have large ones for thousands of dollars but I only need a thousand cards for now but more later.

Alan

[Andy]

You might try sandwiching the cards tightly between two pieces of wood and then using a drill press. Andy

[J T]

Fri, Jan 13, 2006, 5:28pm [e-mail] (alan) doth want to know: I have pre perforated rolodex card blanks, I'd rather do it myself so that I have some flexabilty and can easily make changes.

You want to get a drill press, only for drilling holes in these thingies? It'd be cheaper to get a punch you could whack with a hammer, and punch your holes. Probably easier, and faster, too.

You want to laminate these things. Then figure you can make change? How? By re-laminating them after?

Why even bother in the first place? I've never seen one worn out from handling them, yet.

Never mind. I don't really care.

JOAT You'll never get anywhere if you believe what you "hear". What do you "know"?

- Granny Weatherwax

[Michael Beacom]

You might want to take a short piece of metal tube, cut it square, and sharpen the end. (put the bevel on the inside) Put a bit of doweling in the other end, so the drill press chuck doesn't crush the tube. Add a clamp to hold the stock in place, and this pretty much duplicates the heavy duty hole punch in the print shop at work.

Cheers Mike

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That would work if he wanted round holes Rolodex has a slot and rectangular hole, more like a keyhole shape. It may work as well being round, but you still need a slot. Maybe a round hole and a couple of scroll saw cuts to make the slot..

[Alan Calan]

Jako,

I don't want to do 1000 at a time. I can do 200 then if in the next

200 I need to make a change, it's easy.

The punch sounds like a great idea. Will that give a precise cut? Where do you get a punch in the shape of the rolodex hole that looks like this below:

______ | | | | \ / \ / | | | |

Alan

[Alan Calan]

What about a template over it? I would print them as 4 rows & 2 across so each set (leading edge) would have 4 holes, two for each card on the leading edge, then I'd cut the row and have another leading edge.

If the template can work, I can clamp the template over the cards but then, what kind of router bit or even what kind of router could work best. Plus, i need a bit that would cut through about 25 laminated cards. laminated with a hot GBC machine. However, the laminate is thin but I wonder if it acumulates and gets in the way after it is cut. Also, with using a template make a clean edge?

So, you see some ot the probems. I am beginning to think a punch would be a good thing but it cannot spin, as it isn't a circle, as you indicated also. So what would put that constant pressure on that would create a clean cut. Would a dremmel router be better?

[CW]

With any kind of routing operation the laminate will melt and you will have a big blob. Go see a tool and die maker. For about $2000.00 to 3000.00, he should be able to come up with something that will let you go into production.

[J T]

Sat, Jan 14, 2006, 9:39am [e-mail] (Alan=A0Calan) did cutsey (he thought) with: Jako, The punch sounds like a great idea. Will that give a precise cut? Where do you get a punch in the shape of the rolodex hole

Well Aleypoo, first off, I'm not Jako.

If the punch is relatively sharp, then yes, it'll give a precise cut. If I wanted one, I'd make it. If you can't make one, check with a buddy, or a machine shop.

Or, you could use a round punch and a chisel, and make multiple cuts. I'd take a bit longer, but would be cheaper, and probably work well enough.

Hell, there's any number of ways you can do this. I just thought of some more, without even trying. Time for you to think for yourself.

JOAT You'll never get anywhere if you believe what you "hear". What do you "know"?

- Granny Weatherwax

[Edwin Pawlowski]

What? And put all those government employees out of work?

[Andy Dingley]

I did this once (not Rolodex, but close) and used a powered scroll saw. The trick its to clamp the stack together _very_ tightly first - this avoids edges fraying. I used two bits of thin plywood with bolts through from top to bottom (countersunk heads on the bottom). This plywood had a small cut-out in it around the slot, about 1/8" away from the cut line. I also had two or three scrap cards placed on top and bottom of the stack, under the ply (the top card was also my cut-line template).

[Wilson]

[Wilson]

[john]

Dremel tool with a carbide cutter bit

John

[no(SPAM)vasys]

What about using a "RotoZip" tool?

[Alan Calan]

Hey Wilson, thanks for looking but I've seen that one thousands of times. That's a little hand punch to punch the rolodex slots in business cards, not anything laminated and it certainly couldn't do more than one at a time.

I was quoted prices up to $1,000.00 for 1,000 cards but I found a site today

where they do 4 color custom cards for $239 with no shipping in the US and they seem to be really nice.

I was really conceerned about doing this myself and when I thought of the laminate shards, if you will, getting in the way of whatever cutting method I chose, I was glad I found a reasonably priced way to do it.

Thank you all for your help!!

[alan]

Hi Ed,

Your name looks so familiar. Have you been on this newsgroup for a long time? The first time I came on was in the mid 90s.

Anyway, you are correct, the shape is a problem, that's why I thought of the router.

I ended up ordering the cards but I still needed some until they came. So I laminated 10 sets of eight. Cutting one at a time was pretty easy with the paper cutter and got faster each time.

I bought the business card punch like someone suggested on here but that is really for business cards which are shorter than Rolodex cards so the punch doesn't go as high to keep the business card at the same level as the Rolodex cards. You could move the card lower but that was nearly impossible as there were no guides to keep the slippery laminated card in place. If in fact it was designed for unpunched Rolodex cards, it would have worked fine. I tried a scissor, utility knife and an Exacto knife in a scoring movement. Staying straight was impossible.

Finally I decided to try to force the Exacto down into the laminated card and that actually worked pretty well and fast and you could control the length of the cut by how for the hypotenuse (I never thought I'd ever use that world again) sunk into the card. It even worked for the angle coming up from the slot. I would never do a thousand like that but 80 wasn't bad. What a perfect time to do something like that in between plays for the two conference championship football games this weekend.

However, I still think there must be a better answer. I have a feeling that the slots could be cut by a scroll saw or that Rotozip or Dremel that some one suggested. I saw a Straight Cut Router Bit on the Rotozip website but I have no idea what that is other than a bit that makes clean cuts. Maybe a very thin drill bit for the corners and then the Roto-zip. It's a shame Rolodex doesn't make a punch for their cards, the same way they make one for the business cards. With a punch like that I could probably do 500 during a football game if the guides were substantial and allowed you to mindlessly put the unpunched card into the punch.

Maybe someone from Rolodex will see this and make a punch like that. I will try to send this discussion to the CEO of whatever company owns Rolodex now.

Thanks,

Alan